Game apparatus



D. FOREMAN v GAME APPARATUS Filed March 25, 1924 INVENTOR.

/ Jana/d Fare/12a.

" 'I ATTORNEY.

Patented June 23,1925 I NIT D I DONALD. roam/IAN, OI/PORTLAND, oitneonf a 1 GAME'APPARATUsL I 3;.

-' Appli-cationfiled March 25, 1924. Serial No. 701,727

To all whom it mag/camera Be it known that I, DONALD 'FOREMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented certain new and useful-Improvements in Game Appa-a" ratus, of which the following is a specifi cation.

This invention I and its ob ect isto provide as m'plestruo' ture which may be cheaply c'on'str-ucted but provides a game of great difficulty'to solve.

In accordancewith the invention, there is provided a board which may be of square; or similarcontour and has sunken in one I surface in chosen order a regular series of sockets adapted to each receive :a pin, which pin is made of sufficiently smaller diameter than the socket to move 'thereint'o with great freedom but still .ina manner to maintain 1 an upright position. [Each pin is of a diameter and length to'rise above the surface of the board for a distance -permitting the pin to be readily--grasped,=,but thepin itself 1 is of regular'diameterthroughout, so that the grasping of the pin ,:'while quite possible is rendered more-or IGSSidlffiCHlt by the relatively small diameter off the'pin and the we relatively slight extensionvof: thepin. above the upper surface of'th'e board when the pin is seated in a socket. v i 7 4 7 Each socket is numbered:andeach [pin is board with azdeslgnating number4 and each Y,

also numberedwhile the numberof pins employed is one less than sockets provided.

l/Vhen the game is tobe played, the full 7 number of pins is distributedin the sockets or holes, but aslthe number of pins is one less than the number ofsockets or holes, one" of the sockets remains empty.

The pins are placed in the sockets indiscriminately and the problem is to rearrange the pins in the'sockets in regular orderwlth the pins shifted from the mixed uporder'in which they are originally placed in the sockets to the final regular order desired,

the rearrangement being accomplished by jumping the pins over each other until the new regular order is accomplished this being brought about by observance of the numbers on the pins and the numbersadjacent to. the sockets. V Y

The invention will be best' understood from a consideration. of the following detailed description takenin connection with the accompanying drawing, forming part relates toyg'ame apparatus the number of" I of this specificatiomrwith the understanding thatuthe invention is not confined to any strict conformity to the showing of the drawings, but may be changed and modified so 1 long as: such changes and modifications mark nogmaterialdeparture from thesalient features of thelin vention as expressed in theappended claims. V

In-the drawingsz I Figure-1 is a plani-viewof the in t m n board.

7 Fig. 2isa p p ive View of attend ,withithe top ends of the pins shown in the sockets but without orderly'arran'gement;

pins; r

lodged ,in a socket, may bereadily grasped y the, ng r v0fv e hum ha d. and- Fig 3 isanperspe'ctive view of ,oneoftheqJ Referring to the drawings,there1isshown i a game board .1 having produced in one sur- 7' face an orderly series of sockets 2cwhich may-extend to an appropriate depth and in these sockets, are pins 3 each of greater length than the depth of the socket and of slightly less diameter so that apinl when changed from one socket'to another without I I binding in'thes'ockets In the particular arrangementshown the drawings, the game board is provided" w th, sixteenzsockets arranged in j rows of four socketsie'ach,

- Each} socket is proyided on the f designating 'number 5.

wherefore one of the sockets remainsempty and this may befthe socket16, but in the particular arrangementshown in Fig. 2, the 7 socket? may be the socketwhich remains 1 empty onbeginning the playing of the game with the other pins, one to fifteen, distributed among the sockets, leaving the socket in the particular instance shown, that numbered 7, empty. I v v I The game is played by moving one of the pins surrounding the empty socket 7 to said socketend depositing it-v therein. This leaves a neighboring socket empty, and then the pm from the neighboring socket is -mov,ed into thesocket 7 or the one emptied in filling'the socket 7 and :sothe'movement throughout the surface of the board begins progressively until, there is a rearrangement effected of the pins and sockets, it being necessarily in the playing of the game that to obtain the progressive movement, the pins shall he jumped from one socket to a neigh-' boring empty socket and so on so long as the playing progresses.

The problem to be solved is to rearrange the pins in consecutive order from one to fifteen, which movement is of acknowledged difficulty and sometimes proves to be impossible.

In a practical embodiment of the invention, the board may measure about five inches square With the sockets2 measuring seven-si'xteenths of an inch diameter and the pins 3 being each seven-eighths of an inch long and three-eighths of an inch in diameter, the number of sockets being sixteen, while the number of pins is fifteen.

A convenient thickness for the board may be three-quarters of an inch leaving the length of each pin somewhat less than the difference between three-quarters of an inch, the thickness of the board, and seven-eighths of an inch, the length of the pin, this providing sufficient grasping space for the projecting end of the pin. v

The sockets are of constant diameter thro-i'igl'iout their length and the pins also are of constant diameter.

\Vh'at is claimed is 1. A game apparatus comprising a polygonal-sha ped base provided on its upper face with four transversely extending spaced rows of spaced shallow sockets,'each row consisting of four sockets, the socketsv of one row arranged in alignment with respect to the sockets of an adjacent row, means on the upper face of said base in proximity toe'ach of the sockets of each row to consecutively designatethe sockets of the row, the designations for the sockets of one row being different from the designations for the sockets of an adjacent row, a set of removable socket entering pins, said set of a number less one than the combined. number of sockets of the four rows, each of said pins of a height greater than the depth of any one of the sockets and having aflat top, and means on the top of each of said pins to provide a numerical designation therefor, the designation on each of said pins being different and corresponding to a designation of a socket. V

2; A game apparatus comprising, a ,po-

lygonal-shaped base provided on its upper face with four transversely extending spaced rows of spaced shallow sockets, each row consisting of four sockets, 'the sockets of one row arranged in alignment with re- 7 spect to the sockets of an adjacent row, meanson the upper face of said base in proximity to each of the sockets of each row to consecutively designate the sockets of the row, the designations for the sockets of one rowvbeing different from the designations for the sockets of an adjacent row, a set of removable socket entering pin-s, said set of a number less one than the combined num-' ber of sockets of the four rows, each of said pins of a height greater than the'depth of I In testimony whereof, I affix. my signa- 7 ture hereto.

' DO ALD FOREMAN. 

